Coffee and Salutes
by suzanami
Summary: Short oneshot. Maria Schneider reflects on her daily exchange with Capt. Jurgens, and realizes it's become more of a habit than a relationship.


**Title: _Coffee and Salutes_ **  
**Author's notes:** For being such a minor character, I find Maria, Capt. Jurgens' right-hand woman, very interesting. The series hints that she may have feelings for him, but I think those stem from her devotion to him rather than the other way around.

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She's been with him for years, since he was just an enlisted. They'd gone through training together, back before the war got bad. Before his wife and daughter were slaughtered. Before he began to drown himself in his military work. Before he was finally promoted to Captain. They had always been closer than acquaintances but still not quite friends. And she hadn't always felt so devoted to him.

He was a good soldier and a top-notch officer. He always had been. Some men are just naturals when it comes to the military, to being a leader. She admired him, respected him. He knew this. She had never said it in so many words, but she knew her actions spoke loudly enough that he couldn't miss it. And his actions silently told her that he was grateful.

That was what their relationship had always been like and of which it was now completey comprised: wordless communication through posture and nods and orders shouted across the bridge.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

The Captain was not the kind of person who wore his heart on his sleeve, not in the least. He was a man's man, a meat-and-potatoes kind of fellow who gruffly barked orders and rolled his eyes at certain snippy young Lieutenants. You knew if he was angry or frustrated or surprised, but beyond that was hidden behind a stony mask. If you spent enough time around him, though, you learned his little habits that gave away what he felt: he popped his knuckles when he was nervous; he hunched his shoulders forward when he was exhausted; he stared at his unadorned left hand when he thought of his family.

And Maria was at Jurgens' side day after day. The only times she did not see him were the days she was off-duty, though those days were almost non-existant anymore. She had been his right-hand woman for almost two years now. And because she could read his secret emotions like a tattered old book, she knew he was grateful for her presence. Thankyous and such things would likely never be exchanged between the two, other than when she brought him his coffee every morning. It was that silent acknowledgement that kept Maria's devotion to her Captain at the front of her mind.

Today, Jurgens was in his office, mumbling curses under his breath while he went over the reports from the last run-in with the Gekkostate. She paused in the doorway, watching her commander stand hunched over his desk, fists pressed against the messy piles of papers and she couldn't help but notice the frame containing the photo of his wife and daughter face-down on the desk; he must've been having one of his worse days. Some mornings he was bright and alert, but other times when he came in, his eyes were dull as if he hadn't slept well and his shoulders seemed to droop ever so slightly. Today was one of the latter.

She swallowed and knocked on the doorframe lightly with her knuckles. Jurgens snapped his head up, startled, before quickly putting his officer-face back on. "Schneider."

"Sir, Lieutenant Sorel will be riding with us on patrol today." She reported simply and without frills, and his silent nod matched, but she knew that he was aggravated because the right corner of his mouth curled up under his mustache. Sorel had always been the Colonel's pet of sorts and he never let Jurgens forget that. Maria didn't dislike the kid, but she did disapprove of his snotty attitude toward his superiors.

"Is the girl coming along this time?" He was looking at the papers again, in the same tense posture.

The Colonel's _other_ pet. More like his toy, really. Maria shook her head to clear her thoughts, though he would've assumed she was just replying in the negative if he'd actually been looking at her. "No," she said. "I was just told that the Lieutenant will be joining us on our usual route for the day."

The Captain snorted and leafed through a stack of papers. "All right. Is the coffee ready yet?"

"I've got it right here," was the quick reply and Maria smiled despite herself when he looked up and smirked, his expression saying, _I should have known._ "One cream, three sugars. Sir." He nodded and she took the invitation to enter, handing him the cup as she did every morning.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

It was routine. It was just politeness. It was the only time those words were exchanged between these two people. Maria thought as she saluted, turned and exited the office that in the unlikely event that the Captain ever said those words to her outside of this daily exchange, perhaps she wouldn't know how to respond at all.

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END


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